Disneypants.

Orlando was wonderful! Well, getting there wasn’t all that great. We had a terrible drive that Rono completed by himself; it was 12 hours or something close to it, he’s crazy. After we arrived though, things changed. We checked in to the hotel and moved on to the venue, which happened to be outside. I thought this would be a downside to the show at first, but with The Redwalls there are no downsides.

Andrew, Rob, Justin and I went to look for some food and stumbled across a Subway around the block from the stage. Normally I hate Subway, but… wait a second. I still hate Subway. This experience didn’t help it any. The sole employee working treated us all like butterbrains.

Man: “Are you lost? Can I help you? What do you need?”

Tutti: “We’d all like sandwiches.”

Man: “The sandwich line starts over there please.” (Five feet directly right of where we were standing)

The group hesitantly shuffles over to the sandwich ordering spot.

Man: “What can I get for you?”

Rob: “Turkey.”

Man: “What?”

Rob: “Turkey.”

Man: “What?”

Rob: “Turkey.” (Rob doesn’t yell, he just slightly raises his voice when he gets a tad frustrated)

Anyway, the place sucked. And I think he damaged my self-esteem a little.

THE LODGE
November 11, 2007
Orlando, FL

The guys got a 40-minute set that night, and with a longer set comes prolonged fun! After doing a multitude of short ones I’m sure they love the length of a headlining slot. It also gives me the opportunity to hear other songs live, and all of them are just plain great. There were several Redwalls fans there, and as usual paid their respects with reverence. I got a picture with a few, check them out! One girl came up to me and said she read my blog, and then recited lines from it. Creepy? No, she was a very nice girl. I just told her I would call her creepy online.

Neil and Bob were also there and having a good time. Neil had ants in his pants the whole night. I understand that feeling, I was jealous that he had it! It’s really compelling to see people that really love the band.

The night ended in the guys hitting up a bar and me going out with my Aunt and Uncle, whom I haven’t seen in two years, until 4am at IHOP. It’s strange how you can be out of touch with certain family for so long and still have a great time together. I wish I had more time to spare, but at least I got to see them. My cousins are giants now, too. They just sprouted up like bean stalks. Weird.


This Pabst sign was gigantic.


Hanging out... on stage. You know, the usual.


The crew with Neil and Bob. Where the heck is Rob?!


Oh, there he is. He kind of looks like a giant in this picture.


Me and the creepy girls ;) JK JK! Geez!


The streets were alive with... women with abnormally large calves.

curlyrespondstosomethings

So this post is dedicated to you guys who leave me comments, because I do enjoy them, and also because I feel bad when you ask questions and I don’t answer them. So here are my responses to what some of you said or asked. All of them are meant lightheartedly, hope I did alright!

Hey, Mike...so jealous!! I have to sit and grade papers! Say Hi to the guys for me, and I'll look forward to reading about your travels....
-Marcy RW

Marcy, I heard you think I’m funny. I’m glad I can encourage giggles from remote locations across the US. I will definitely say hi for you, and I can’t wait to get back! Also, I was checking out my requirements to graduate, and I still have a bunch of ensembles to complete… is that going to be a problem? ;)

i'm not gonna lie, you played a big role in my decision to buy merch.
ahaha =]]
ferreal tho.
you did.
you had the most beautiful smile, ever.
i think i must've walked past the merch tables like 30483084 times. true story.
do you get a lott of people who spazz out 'cause of the free stickers, or was that just me, 'cause i definitely got way too excited.
ohmann, anyway.
basically, i'm incredibly envious of you and the fun you're most likely having with the two best bands on the planett.
that is all.
seeyahhh later && take care
:]
helena.

1) I’m flattered and didn’t actually think my smile helped until this comment. 2) You’re the only sticker spaz I’ve met so far. Helena is a wonderful name, by the way. I once met this little girl with the same name, whose father owned an island in Hawaii.

I always get excited whenever I see you guys live. And it's awesome that you're from Chicago, since Milwaukee's just a second away. If you can, you guys should come back up here after the show at the Metro w/ Jonathan Rice in December. That would be INSANE.
Take care, and lots of love,
-Sarah

I can’t promise anything, but I bet it would be asylum-worthy. There was a lot of Pabst in Milwaukee. Beeeeeeeer. The Redwalls are the Chicago boys, I’m a Philadelphian!

Anonymous said...
So, you were the guy that looked at my husband like he had three heads when he bought the cd. :)

I am confused by this comment. Is it a cynical strike at my confusion? Yet the statement is followed by a colon and closed parenthesis indicating playfulness. You got something against three heads, lady? Let me tell you something, three heads equates to three times the brainpower and potential sophistication! Get it right or pay the price! ☺←------ indicating playfulness ☺←------ indicating playfulness ☺←------indic…

Anonymous said...
ha ha ha, yes San Diago discovered by the Germans in 1904 and means a whale's...
nice post title, made me chuckle.

Beard of Zeus, I love that movie. I salute my shorts to you!

DOVE, you look less than cynical. It was wonderful meeting you, and maybe we will cross paths in the future. PS - get off your cell phone!

Anonymous said...
i love that manchovies picture like none other.

I felt pretty clever after that one. I also felt especially clever after my Houston picture caption “Analogan”. BANG!

Neirbo said...
Nice blog. I've been to just about every single Redwalls show in the Chicagoland area. Can't wait for the Metro.
Any idea when the Modern Diet video is coming out?

Hey Neirbo, you seem like a dedicated fan, so show yourself at the Metro and I’ll put a picture of you up here! I can’t wait for the Metro either, it should be huge. As far as the video is concerned, you should be seeing it shortly.

Just an FYI, the red castle-like building is the Old Dallas Courthouse. Glad that ya'll seemed to enjoy your time in Dallas. It was good to meet you at the show.
~Sarah

Thank you Sarah! Dallas was wonderful, especially the people. Now I can harbor that knowledge until the next time I see the building, and then whip it out as if I were omniscient!

cara said...
here's that radio performance you speak of...
http://www.kut.org/items/show/10472
yeaaaah!

Cara is totally on top of this stuff. Everybody check this out.

evan said...
what movies did you guys watch, and should we watch them too or avoid them at all costs? :)

Hey Evan, the first film was one I just bought at Waterloo called All My Loving. It looked intriguing, but ended on a really strange note. I think it tried too hard. They would hopelessly drag on these musical segments and flip-flop from the generally feel good music of the time to pretty horrific scenes of the political landscape. More disturbing than anything, but maybe that’s what they wanted? The second was Club Dread by Broken Lizard. I love those guys, but I heard bad things about this movie. I should have learned by now not to listen to anybody else’s opinion on films. It did have its slow moments, but overall I’m glad I saw it. If you like Super Troopers and Beerfest I’d say this is a go.

Jade said...
I loved everything about the photos. 1. Cowboys boots. I wear them a lot; 2. Rocko?! I haven't watched that in ages. 3. Junk. I . . . just like junk.

Jade, someone told me I have to wear boots to get with the program. And then the next day someone told me the opposite. Give me some direction here! R-E-C-Y-C-L-E recycle! Conglomo? Junk is one of my favorite things. There’s just so much cool junk! Go to that place, I’m sure you’d love it.

Brendan said
RONO!!!

Who be this? I will pass along this exclamation.

for Narnia!!
And I'm kinda jealous about the green fairy drink you guys got.
-Justine

Justine is awarded ten points for knowing Narnia, but she did have a hint! Still, kudos for remembering. I haven’t even opened the bottle yet. I’m going to wait at least a couple more weeks and just look at the thing for now. I really can’t wait to try it though.

NOHHHlans

So far, it’s been solely Redwalls fans coming to the shows, not to say they haven’t grown their fan base at all. Every city provides several people who are enamored once they’ve seen them. But this is overall a growing experience for the band. Last night was the first headlining show they’ve had on this whole tour. It was booked because their support tour was taking a break for a day or two, so why not fill that space with a show?

ONE EYED JACK’S
November 9, 2007
New Orleans, LA

Last night was awesome. We arrived in NOLA early enough to load in under no real constraints and for the guys to have a bit of a rehearsal, as well. Once that was over we had plenty of time to walk up the street and grab a bite. So we did! I ordered jambalaya, which was good, but nothing to write home about. Afterwards we went back to the venue and sat around until the night started to pick up a bit. The Polyphonic Spree showed up for a bit to help support, but bus call forced them away again too early. They did get to see some of The Redwalls’ set though. The first band that played actually had a previous Spree member in it, and they heckled away. Playfully of course!

The Redwalls’ set was long and diverse and showed a different side of the band that I had yet to see. Logan said that a half hour set is nothing every night, and that they’re just getting warmed up, not even breaking a sweat. This set was an hour at least, and by the end there was sweat present.

Because it was their first show in NOLA, they had no idea what to expect as far as turnout. They were pleasantly surprised when Redwalls fans showed up more enthusiastic then ever, and plenty of others made a purchase or two. It looks like New Orleans is a place to return to.

After the show we loaded out and went down to an absinthe bar, which ended up being closed, and then moved on to the river. We were having a nice little time sitting on the steps leading down to the water, until security came and recited his lines to us. Basically, get out of the park.

Oh I forgot! We all bought bottles of “real” absinthe to take home. They just passed a law in New Orleans about a week ago that permits the selling of an absinthe made with wormwood. For those of you that don’t know what that means, wormwood is not present in any of the other absinthes you can find in the US, or is so little that it’s almost nothing. This bottle was made the traditional way, and yes, I’m very excited to try it out.


Jack himself.


Redwalls poster, show specific.


Beerfinger.


Rob gazing into the abyss of the Mississ... ippi.


Andrew plus I have a soft side for street lamps. Ten points to anyone who can say why.


Funny positions.

House-ton (As the New Yorkers Do)

Another day off, but not by choice! Unfortunately the show at the Verizon Theatre was cancelled, which left us with nothing but a hotel room and more free hours than we knew what to do with. Luckily the guys had a friend in the Houston area, and they did a quick on air interview with him on his station before he began showing us around.

First stop of significance. Well, less of a stop than a slow drive by. We were on the campus where Rushmore was filmed, which also happens to be the nanotechnology capitol of the world. If you haven’t seen that movie get the hell on it! We drove past the walk that Max and Rosemary (I think) take whilst holding hands. See picture!

First was a really good taco place where I discovered Matt, the guys’ friend, lived in Philadelphia for a while! That’s always cool, to relate to someone who knows the city like you do but through an entirely different experience.

The first stop was Matt’s house where we dropped off our stuff and immediately left again. He knew exactly where I wanted to spend my time, and hopefully the guys agree. First was a music store that was probably the best one I’ve ever been to. It had tons of used equipment, rare finds and a great staff and just everything a music store should be. This was my first opportunity to actually sit down and play guitar on this whole tour. It felt so good. I can’t wait to get back to Philadelphia to grow my project more… lbss. Rob picked up a brand new cymbal to replace his recently cracked one, and Andrew snagged a pretty hard to find pedal called the Micro Amp that he’d been looking at for quite some time. I don’t think anyone else made any purchases, but I’ll tell you places like that put ideas in my head.

Nextly (not a word but it’s what came out) we went to this crazy thrift store full of cowboy boots and a ridiculous amount of other STUFF whose origins are lost in the dust. Mirrors, cassettes, jackets, typewriters, light bulbs, picture frames, suitcases and lastly what I was looking for, a nice sturdy box. Simple eh? Well I need some sort of travel case for the future, so it was an amazing find. I really had to dig for it too.

After that we headed back to Matt’s place, he headed out to a mustache meeting. Andrew, Justin and I sat down and relaxed to a couple movies before it was time to turn in, and that is just what we did.


WHAT!


Shhhhhh... we're on the air!


Rushmore.


The Texas Junk Co. (cr. Matt)


It eats your brain. Rocko's Modern Life anyone? (cr. Matt)


That would take a lot of feet! (cr. Matt)



Analogan. (cr. Matt) Haha.


It's a long trip... (cr. Matt)


Me! And the junkmaster. (cr. Matt)

Big Day Out.

What a looooooong day. There are a lot of “o’s” there to emphasize how long it actually was. We woke up early in Dallas to hit the road to Austin so we could make all our scheduled appearances on time. It was a fairly short drive in comparison to some of the others we’ve taken. So I guess I’ll divide these up like shows, because that’s technically what we did that day… play three shows.

RADIO PERFORMANCE

The guys had an interview and performance with this public station first, and we made it in and out right on the dot of the clock. The interviewer had some pretty decent questions, such as the “where did you get your name” question, who’s answer still eludes many of us.

They played four songs, including Game of Love and They Are Among Us, two of my personal favorites, and the sound was impeccable! See if you can scout this out online somewhere, it’s a great performance.

Onward!

WATERLOO RECORDS INSTORE

This was a cool record store! I’m going to have to remember it for the next time I’m in Austin. I succeeded in purchasing two DVD’s, one a Zappa session that was unreleased, and another television program called All My Loving that looked pretty cool. I haven’t watched them yet, but I’ll let you know how they go. They also gave me a free t-shirt. I like clothing.

This place sported the tiniest actual stage (as in it’s meant to be a stage) that I’ve ever seen. The boys really did have to squeeze in there, but pulled it off with finesse. There was a sizeable crowd to counter the teeny stage, and some uninhibited fans there as well. One girl took to the floor in her cowboy boots to show us a thing or two about strutting, and singing The Redwalls’ songs. The rest nodded their heads in approval.

This was another in and out, and we did it in record time! Wonderful are we at beating the tick tock to flee.

Forthward!

We went to this really good little pizza place for dinner called Rosalie’s or something similar. It reminded me of a shop in Montreal too, or maybe I did eat at that place once before? Oh it all melts together…

EMO’S
November 7, 2007
Austin, TX

This venue has quite the busy buzz around it; apparently it’s the bee’s knees. Get it? Lots of bee humor? You’re lucky I’m kidding around and not sending stingers your way.

I’ll stop now.

Emo’s was awesome! It’s the type of venue that I would want to play coming through Austin. Everyone was hospitable, people spent money on merch, and it was generally a good time. The only downside is that it’s half outside, and it got quite chilly. I don’t move very much, so I’m left to curling up in a fetal position. Gets old quick.

The crowd was large for The Redwalls. I think that had to do with the show being a late one, not starting until 10PM actually gives people time to show up. This resulted in a nice quantity of CD’s sold, and apparently the hot buy was the small blue gun shirt. I personally like that one myself. Maybe I’ll pick one up before I peace out.


Arriving at the radio station.


Performing LIVE.


Waterloo itself.


Rob hanging out.


There was a big crowd in there, and this girl started dancing. It was awesome.


This venue is awesome.


Everybody loves The Redwalls!

Wowboy

The last post included “palace” in the name because the hotel was really, REALLY nice.

Last night was the first House of Blues show that we’ve had so far. The venue was six months new, and was built very nicely. The place was like a freaking maze though, and I seriously couldn’t figure out how to get to where I wanted to go. I ended up just wandering the halls for a long while.

My table was outside of the main room unfortunately, so I was left unable to watch the show. I didn’t even have a chair to sit on, so I was stuck on top of one of the bins the whole night. It turned out to be not so bad.

This was the Spree’s hometown, and it was obvious. There were plenty of people there to see them, including friends and family. It’s always kind of strange seeing where these people come from and whom they relate with.

HOUSE OF BLUES
November 6, 2007
Dallas, TX

The show went well from what I could tell! Like I said I was outside the main room, so the best I can do is assume they did well. I have no doubt.


The view from the hotel.


The hotel.


Some cool building right near where we stayed.


Me and Justine, whom I met the night of the show.


The HOB.

Pictureless

The pictures for the next few posts will be up soon, I need to upload those suckers.